Art Winners Help Celebrate BW’s 75th Anniversary

June 04th, 2014

More than 300 local schoolchildren let their creative talent flow in an art contest honoring the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge’s 75th anniversary. The contest was sponsored by the Welcome to Whitestone Civic Association.

Director of Bridges East Raymond Webb, who oversees the Bronx-Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges, helped picked the winners along with Whitestone Civic Association President Devon O’Connor and City Councilman Paul Vallone.

The only rules involved in the contest were that pictures had to be hand-drawn and include a reference to the bridge’s 75th anniversary. The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge opened to traffic on April 29, 1939, a day before the opening of the World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens.

“It was wonderful to see how the children embraced the project and hopefully learned a little bit about the history of the bridge in the process,” said MTA Bridges and Tunnels’ Webb.

The drawings contain depictions of the bridge in various hues of blue, gray and one even had a serene setting sun in the background.

The five winners were announced last month in a ceremony at Councilman Vallone’s district office. The winners included fifth-graders Nicholas Berry, from P.S. 193, and Ellie Choe from P.S. 209, and P.S.79 fourth-graders Mei Jiang, Athena Koutsothanasis and Joanna Li.

Each child received a $50 gift certificate from the civic association and a $10 Dunkin’ Donuts’ gift card.